You dey handle numbers all day and you dey handle dem well. You dey read invoice, you dey check quote, you dey catch di error for di shared sheet before anybody else see am. Then by nine for night, your thumb go dey hover on top your own banking app and you go just turn di phone face down, na di fourth night wey you dey do am.
Nothing dey wrong with you. To check balance na two second work wey capable people dey turn to two week decision, and di tin wey you dey avoid no be di number. Na wetin you dey expect to feel for di half second after you see am. Dat one make am body problem before e be money problem, and dat na good news, because body dey take instruction faster than feeling. Dis na di thirty second version, and then why every step dey inside.
How I go take check my bank balance without panic?
Stand up, take one long breath out wey last about two times di length of di breath in, open di app, read di number out loud, and write am down. Di whole routine na like thirty seconds, and di order matter pass how e look.
To stand up dey change your posture and your breathing before you even see anything. Di long breath out na di part wey your calming system dey actually respond to. To read di figure out loud dey turn am from fear to fact, because number wey you talk dey specific, but fear never dey specific. To write am down mean say next time you go dey compare, no be discover, wey na completely different experience of di same app.
Two tins deliberately no dey inside di routine. No reading of transactions, because to scroll list of everything wey you spend go turn thirty second check to one hour of quiet self-judgment. And no fixing anything, because fix wey you choose for di first minute after seeing a number na di surprise choose am, no be you.
Do am once and na trick. Do am on a fixed day and e go turn to tin wey you no dey even think about again.
Why one long breath out dey make number easy to read?
Because di breath out na di half of breathing wey your calming system dey respond to, and e dey work for seconds, no be minutes. Researchers for Stanford test five minutes a day of breathing wey focus on di exhale against mindfulness meditation and dem find say di breathing bring bigger lift for mood and lower resting breathing rate over one month.
Di pattern wey perform pass na cyclic sighing: breathe in through your nose, sip small extra air on top, then release one slow long breath out through your mouth. You no need five minutes here. One round before you tap don do to stop your hand from turning cold and your eyes from blurring, wey na wetin dey actually happen when you open app wey you don brace yourself for bad news.
Di reason to do am standing na separate and simpler. For bed, whatever you see no get anywhere to go. But if you dey stand for kitchen at nine for night, bad number na tin wey you fit write down and act on for morning.
Why e easy well well to just no look?
Because to avoid information na human pattern wey dem don document well, no be your own personal failing. One review for di Journal of Economic Literature find say people dey refuse information even when e useful, free, and no carry any strategic cost, purely because of how dem expect di information go make dem feel.
Money na di purest version of dis tin. Di balance free to look, na two seconds, and e for improve almost every decision wey you go make dat week. People still no dey look, because di number dey feel like grade on how dem dey do for life, and nobody dey open app make dem grade am.
Di way out no be more willpower. Na to change wetin di number be. Balance na position, di same way fuel gauge na position. E dey tell you how far you fit go before you need do something about am, and na dat one alone e don ever tell anybody.
Wetin if di number bad?
Write am down anyhow and stop there for tonight. Numbers wey you never read no dey sit still: dem dey grow inside darkness and dem dey carry your attention go. Di version wey dey your head at two for morning dey almost always worse than di version wey dey screen, and e dey charge you interest for sleep.
Then give di fix daytime slot. Nothing about low balance dey improve between nine for night and midnight, and everything about your judgment dey worse for dose three hours. Di call to di provider, di payment plan, di subscription wey you plan to cancel, di message to di person wey owe you: all of dat na Tuesday morning work, and e dey go far better for daylight.
E dey also help to separate two questions wey dey come together and dey feel like one. Wetin di number be, and wetin I go do about am. Di first one na thirty seconds and you don already answer am. Di second one need proper sitting, with your fixed costs in front of you and nobody dey wait for you, and to try answer am while you still dey hold your phone na how people dey take make decision wey dem for no make by ten di next morning.
One last step wey sound too small to matter. Talk di figure out loud, once. Number wey you talk get edges. Di fear wey bin dey stand for im place no get edges, and na mostly why di fear feel heavy pass di number.
How I go stop di flinch from coming back next month?
Give di looking one fixed home. Number wey you check di same day every month, written for di same page as last month own, go stop to be event and become reading, and reading no dey frighten anybody.
Di flinch dey come back when di check dey random, because random check na always response to worry, wey mean say e dey arrive with di worry already attach. Scheduled check dey arrive with nothing attach. Na di whole difference be dat, and na why di date matter pass di discipline.
E get second half to dis tin and e no be financial. Di reason why number dey land hard some weeks and land as ordinary information other weeks na usually because your body don dey carry di whole month by di time you reach am. KEEP CALM founder take handle di pressure of building career partly through training, and di reason why dat one belong inside money article na capacity, no be wellness: person wey don already do something hard dat morning and finish am dey read hard number differently for night.
To look na di cheapest skill for money matter
Almost everything wey dey cost money for personal finance dey happen inside darkness. Di subscription wey nobody cancel, di fee wey nobody query, di late charge on di bill wey enter drawer, di loan wey person collect at eleven for night because di alternative na another week of not knowing. None of dat na income problem. Na looking problem, and to look free.
Thirty seconds. Stand up, one long breath out, talk am out loud, write am down, on a date wey you pick, no be night wey you dread. Do dat for three months and you go stop to dey describe yourself as person wey no sabi money. Na bad light you bin dey read inside.
Sources
- Stanford Medicine, 'Cyclic sighing' can help breathe away anxiety
- Cell Reports Medicine (via PubMed Central), Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal
- American Economic Association, Journal of Economic Literature, Information Avoidance